Can Social Media Pose Risks For Businesses?

Social media can pose risks for any businesses. Unfortunately, those risks are less understood.

Some business owners think that the social media activities of their employees won’t affect their organization. Unfortunately, the information they publish to their social media accounts could be used against them.

Attackers utilize social media as a surveillance tool to make a plan on how to attack their targets. If an employee tweeted about a leadership conference, a hacker could use it to make a phishing email that contains a malicious link.

Keep in mind that a customized email would increase click-through rates.

Hackers use LinkedIn to mine email addresses of some employees. They utilize them to make a phishing email with a link to an infected site.

Business owners must realize that social media is a great place for hackers to monitor their next victims. Fortunately, some ways can help in reducing the attack.

For example, employees must know how much information they could share on social media. They must also learn how to use the privacy settings wisely. Facebook, for example, has a tool that allows users apply a privacy setting to their past posts.

How many social media managers a business should have?

You may think that it’s ideal to have one person to manage your social media campaign. It’s understandable if you have an insufficient staff or the lack of budget.

But having one person to manage your social media accounts may pose security risks. It’s especially true if that person publishes both personal and professional updates.

If your social media manager’s personal account is attached to your corporate accounts and his/her personal account has been hacked, it’s highly likely that your corporate account would be attacked as well.

The result won’t only threaten your account’s security, but it also poses risks on your brand’s image. If the attackers posted some insensitive tweets from the corporate account, it could hurt your company’s social media reputation and drive your clients away.

Now, if that person suddenly quits, you may not be able to access your social accounts because that person holds the key to your social media kingdom.

Although it’s reasonable to have a one-person social media manager, you can improve your account’s security by ensuring all your key employees can access all social media information of your company. Furthermore, don’t allow someone to change the password. Instead, use a password manager to store your passwords.

Social media may have advanced security features. However, you must not rely on these functions. Instead, be responsible for your account’s security. After all, it’s no longer Mark Zuckerberg’s problem when your account gets hacked. The security features will only work if you used them correctly.

You can avoid the threat by implementing some policies at your organization on how to use social media. Don’t just focus on details about how your employees must conduct themselves on social media. Rather, you must include the security details as well. Having a social media policy must include password guidelines.

Employees tend to overshare. With a social media policy, you can prevent threats that could affect your entire organization.

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Jane has a lifelong passion for writing. As a blogger, she loves writing breaking technology news and top headlines about gadgets, content marketing and online entrepreneurship and all things about social media. She also has a slight addiction to pizza and coffee.